LiverKick - LiverKick

Coming up on January 30 is the semi-final round of the United Glory World Series of Kickboxing and MMA - a pair of 8 man tournaments started last October and wrapping up this spring. The current favorite to win the kickboxing side of the tournament is the #6 ranked Gokhan Saki, however the latest rumors indicate Saki may end up dropping out of the January 30 event. Saki is still recovering from injuries suffered in his Grand Prix war with Daniel Ghita, and may not have time to get back in shape for this semi-final round. If he does indeed drop out, Saki will likely be replaced by his Golden Glory stablemate Errol Zimmerman. Zimmerman was originally scheduled to take part in the tournament, but had to drop out after being KO'd by Ghita at the K-1 Final 16.

The current semi-final matches have Saki vs. Wendel Roche and Brice Guidon vs. Mourad Bouzidi, with the winners meeting in the finals on April 21. Losing Saki would be unfortunate, but in all honesty would make the tournament more interesting. As it stands right now, Saki is the prohibitive favorite - Roche, Guidon, and Bouzidi are all talented fighters, but Saki stands head and shoulders above them. Zimmerman on the other hand is at a career low point, and more on a level with the other semi-finalists. He has already faced both Roche (with Zimmerman pulling off a close extra round decision win) and Bouzidi (in a fight that Bouzidi won via cut stoppage). Both opponents would make interesting rematches for The Bonecrusher, while the underrated Guidon would be a tough challenge for Zimmerman. Entering this tournament would help give us a clear view of just where Zimmerman stands right now, so while I wish Saki the best recovery, I won't complain about this switch if it happens.

On the MMA side, the semi-finals are currently listed as Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Alessio and Roan Carneiro vs. Tommy Depret, however there is some shuffling over here also, as Alessio posted on twitter that he has been forced to drop out due to an injury suffered in training. No word yet on a possible replacement. Again, winners here will meet in the finals on April 21.

The rest of the January 30 card includes a number of kickboxing and MMA super fights. Two fights of note for kickboxing fans: Robin van Roosmalen will be in action, though his opponent is not yet determined; and Frederic Sinistra faces Filip Verlinden.

Over at Dutch forum Mixfight.nl there is news of a new card featuring some high-end fights. No name or organization known, but the show takes place June 18 in Rotterdam. In the main event, it will be the #5 ranked Gokhan Saki vs. Sergei Lascenko. Saki's last fight was his United Glory semi-final victory over Wendell Roche, and before the Lascenko fight, he'll also face Brice Guidon in the UG finals May 21. Good to see The Rebel staying so active despite the overall lack of options for Heavyweight fighters at the moment.

This marks Lascenko's first high profile opponent since losing to Freddy Kemayo at last year's K-1 Europe GP. One of the potential break-out K-1 Heavyweights of 2009, Lascenko has seen his career stall out somewhat over the past year. Since the Kemayo loss, he's gone 1-2, and is coming off a win over Vasile Popovici. One interesting aspect to this fight is that Lascenko has recently been in the news a bit as he has made the transition to Mike's Gym, where he has been working as the sparring partner to Badr Hari. Hari vs. Saki is a fight that has come up more than once recently, and is one I wouldn't be surprised to see sooner than later. Seeing his training partner face off against Saki will certainly be informative for Hari and the team at Mike's Gym.

There has been an onslaught of fight announcements in the past few days. To keep you up to speed, we're putting them together here in one story, so let's get to it.

Feb. 19 - Shootboxing act.1: We previously announced that UFC veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka would be on this card against an opponent TBA. His opponent is now set, and it's Satoru Suzuki. The Japanese ex-boxer had a good year in Shootboxing in 2010, but ended the year breaking his arm and being forced out of the S-Cup. This is his first fight back from the injury.

Feb. 26 - Golden Glory Eindhoven: Top 10 fighter Nieky Holzken is in action, facing Thilo Schneider in a Golden Glory sponsored event. Holzken is moving back and forth between the 70 and 77kg limits these days - hopefully he can settle down and find where he fights best this year.

Feb. 27 - RISE 74: A few good fights set for the latest edition of Japan's RISE promotion. The show will feature two title fights: 60kg champion Kan Itabashi faces Kousuke Komiyama, while 63kg champion Koji Yoshimoto meets Yusuke Sugawara. The show will also include the retirement of former K-1 MAX fighter Tatsuji. Full card at HeadKickLegend.

March 6 - It's Showtime Amsterdam: IS added a pair of interesting fights to their first show of 2011. First, Wendell Roche fights Danyo Ilunga for the vacant IS 95kg title. We'll have more on this fight in the coming weeks. Plus, Chahid Oulad El Hadj vs. Robin van Roosmalen in what should be an exciting match up.

March 12 - Fight Nights: Battle of Moscow: Top 5 MW Albert Kraus headlines this show against Batu Khasikov. Kraus is a busy fighter who takes a fair number of these smaller fights, typically knocking his opponents out. But as Souwer showed us this weekend - anything can happen.

April 2 - Explosion Fight Night 3: This French Muay Thai event is notable for a 4 man K-1 rules tournament that will feature Sudsakorn. The Thai fighter is popping up everywhere these days, already having turned in two high profile fights in 2011 against Khem Sitsongpeenong and Giorgio Petrosyan. He's also entering a lot of tournaments, which is a smart move for the experience. The other participants are Michael Piskitello, Michale Lallemand, and Mohammed Rahoui.

April 24 - REBELS 7: Former K-1 MAX Korea GP champion Chi Bin Lim meets Daiki Watabe. Good to see Chi Bin Lim here, as he looked very good at the K-1 MAX Final 16 last year, but has seemingly been passed in the MAX pecking order by his countryman Su Hwan Lee.

May - Local Kombat: This one is not 100% confirmed yet, but Local Kombat revealed that their May event will likely be headlined by Daniel Ghita vs. Alexey Ignashov. Ignashov is notoriously hard to stop or even knockdown, but he's not looked good lately, and I have to think Ghita may be the man to finally stop him here.

Daniel Ghita's original opponent, Paul Slowinski, was looked upon as a gimme fight for Daniel Ghita, and then Slowinski had to pull out of the fight on short notice. The word was circulating that Daniel Ghita's opponent would be Spanish fighter Damian Garcia, but it appears that as the time approached, Garcia backed out for one reason or another. We've spoken to Ghita's camp and can confirm that the situation is a bit frustrating for them at this point, as there have been many possible opponents for Ghita, lots of talks over the past few days, and that nothing has worked out.

Sometime late last night here in the States, early morning in Europe, talk emerged that Wendell Roche was headed to Madrid to fight Daniel Ghita. As of about five hours ago we could confirm that from the perspective of Ghita's camp, Roche was indeed a possibility, but with how this week has shaped up, they do not feel that anything is certain until the bell rings for the fight. That being said, Roche is in Madrid and It's Showtime staffers have been pushing this video from 2010 on their Facebook profiles, of Roche talking about the Heavyweight division and how he'd fight anyone.

It is safe to say that as of right now, Wendell Roche is on deck for Ghita, but this has been quite a disaster.

Enfusion’s 19th event took place on June 29th from the The Troxy in London. In an evening filled with upsets and finishes, 23-year old Ismael Lazaar stole the show with a stunning knockout of Glory veteran Daniel Sam. It was a bewildering performance from the hometown favourite Sam, as he was constantly backed up by the much smaller man and offered little in terms of output besides a few left kicks to the body. After winning the opening two rounds, Lazaar put an end to Daniel Sam’s night with a crushing left-hook early in the third round. It was a marquee win for the Moroccan prospect, who claimed the Enfusion Heavyweight World Title in the process.

In the co-main even of the evening, American Andrew Tate upset veteran Wendell Roche with a referee stoppage in the second round. Tate came out aggressive from the opening bell, peppering Roche with combinations, before putting him away early in the second round with a series of punches and knees. Not only did Tate become the new Enfusion 90kg world champion, but he was also named Fighter of the Night too.

Enfusion Live #19 will be taking place this Sunday, June 29th from London, England. This card includes well known names like Daniel Sam, and Wendell Roche who will both be fighting for Enfusion world titles for the two main events.

Here are the Enfusion Live #20 results from Mallorca on July 12. Iman Barlow retained her Enfusion world title with a dominant performance using her non-stop pace and amazing cardio. Wendell Roche also won by TKO in the 2nd round by low kicks, pretty unbelievable considering he was TKO'd only 2 weeks ago, but hes on a mission to get his title back.